September 24, 2023
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
“Dumb-Founded”
Service Overview: The message of Jesus seems foolish to those whose hearts are darkened to the power of its truth. Who Jesus is, what he accomplished, and what happens to those who put their faith in him is a transformative matter worth probing.
Memory Verse for the Week:
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV)
Background Insights:
- The Jews rejected the message because they asked for signs—the miraculous. Nothing could be more antithetical to their request than their Messiah dying like a bloody criminal on a cross. The idea of a crucified Messiah hanging on a tree, in fact, is repugnant and inconceivable to many Jews. Deuteronomy 21:23 even teaches, “anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse” (but see Gal 3:10-14). (Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in 1 Corinthians, 30)
- Crucifixion was not only a horrible death; it was a shameful death. It was illegal to crucify a Roman citizen. Crucifixion was never mentioned in polite society, any more than we today would discuss over dinner the gas chamber or the electric chair. (Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary, 455)
- Many Greeks considered speculative philosophies the highest human ideals, with their concomitant emphasis on rhetoric, esoterica, and elitism. For such people, the cross was a stumbling-block (literally, “scandal”) and foolishness (v. 23)… Many Greeks found numerous aspects of the story of Christ’s death foolish—a suffering God, the ideal of perfect order destroyed, a criminal Messiah, and a way to God not based on human speculation. (Gordon D. Fee, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: 1 Corinthians, 53)
- From the way he uses the term wisdom we deduce that some of the Corinthians had put great emphasis on this quality. In bold and forceful language Paul contrasts the way of God, which seems folly to the sophisticated Christians, with the ineffectiveness of that which the world counts as wisdom. (Leon Morris, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: 1 Corinthians, 42)
- Paul, of course, does not deny that the sophists and scribes know something; he’s been to graduate school, too! What he affirms is that “the world did not know God through Wisdom.” The intellectuals know things; they do not know God! (William Baird, 1 and 2 Corinthians, 10)
- Many Jews considered the Good News of Jesus Christ to be foolish because they thought the Messiah would be a conquering king who did many spectacular signs and miracles. Although Jesus had performed many miracles during his ministry on earth, many Jews who observed his miracles firsthand had refused to believe (Matthew 12:38-39; 16:1-4; Mark 8:11-12; Luke 11:16; John 6:30). (Grant R. Osborne, Life Application Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Corinthians, 29)
What does Paul want the church at Corinth to get here?
- A cross only makes sense to those who realize they deserve one themselves.
(v. 18 | Isaiah 53:5; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13; Colossians 2:14; 1 Peter 2:24)
The cross stands as the focal point of the Christian faith. Without the cross the Bible is an enigma, and the Gospel of salvation is an empty hope. (James Montgomery Boice, Philippians, 125)
The cross is foolishness to the perishing (v. 18), but by means of it God has himself thereby rendered as foolish the world’s wisdom; wisdom that belongs merely to the sphere of human self-sufficiency. God has not simply made such wisdom appear foolish; by means of the cross God has actually turned the tables on such wisdom altogether, so that it has been made into its very opposite—foolishness.” (Gordon D. Fee, 1 Corinthians, 72; emphasis in original)
- God is all too pleased to use “foolish” things to prove foolish the “wisdom” of this world.
(vv. 19-21 | Prov. 1:7; Is. 40:28; Mark 16:16; John 5:39-40; 8:24; Rom. 11:33-36; Col. 2:8)
No human wisdom or intelligence can either discover or disprove God. No human reasoning can bring salvation. So all those who have lived by their own wisdom—the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters—will be left with nothing. God had already made them all look foolish and showed that their “wisdom” was no more than useless nonsense. (Grant R. Osborne, Life Application Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Corinthians, 28)
Without the cross of Christ, there is no Christianity. And without a biblical understanding of the cross, there is no authentic Christianity. (Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in 1 Corinthians, 24)
- The power and wisdom of God, for those who believe, will forever be a crucified Savior.
(vv. 23-25 | Romans 1:16-17; Ephesians 1:13-14; Colossians 1:20; 1 John 4:9-10)
It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills cost Him crucifixion. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 113)
In spite of the highly sophisticated discussion of natural theology by the Stoics and Epicureans on ‘the nature of the gods’, that intellectual world did not know God. God’s purpose was achieved through what was regarded as foolish, i.e. what Paul preached, so as to save those who put their trust in that message. (D. A. Carson, New Bible Commentary, 1165)
Life is wasted if we do not grasp the glory of the cross, cherish it for the treasure that it is, and cleave to it as the highest price of every pleasure and the deepest comfort in every pain. What was once foolishness to us—a crucified God—must become our wisdom and our power and our only boast in this world. (John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life, 46)
Conclusion… How does a text like this help us in countering culture?
A. By freeing us from expecting people to “get” what we “got”.
(John 3:17; 3:36; 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:4-7; 1 John 4:10)
Through the death of Jesus, then, God has reversed the fate of all human beings. This act of Jesus allows us to have what no one else could give us. He alone has offered human beings the chance for eternal happiness. (John J. Kilgallen, First Corinthians, 28)
Someone has defined philosophy as a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn’t there. The Greeks sought after wisdom. Today man is still searching for some theory or formula, and he thinks that it is through science that he will get the answers to some of the questions of life. (J. Vernon McGee, 1 Corinthians, 29)
The Good News of Jesus Christ still sounds foolish to many and offensive to others. It is foolishness to any who have chosen another way to face their unavoidable appointment with death and what comes after. It is offensive to those who attempt to maintain a facade of self-righteousness or self-confidence in the face of life’s questions. Those who cannot consider their own sinfulness will find that the gospel offers a solution they insist they do not need. (Osborne, 30)
B. By bolstering our trust that God can still use a simple message to transform anyone.
(John 1:12; Romans 6:6; 10:14; Galatians 6:14; Titus 3:4-7; 1 John 2:2)
There is only one way by which eternal death can be avoided, even eliminated; God must forgive the sins which make us die. And this forgiveness must be freely given, in the sense that human beings can never do enough to make up for sin and thus oblige God to forgive, as though we had paid our debt and deserved pardon. So all eyes turn to the One who, though continually spurned by mankind, offers the only hope of terminating eternal death. (John J. Kilgallen, 1 Corinthians, 27)
The Bible does not disapprove of knowledge or wisdom. Its question is, “Is it the right knowledge and wisdom you’re accepting?” (Akin, 26)
The Gospel is so simple that a small child can understand it, and it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians will never exhaust its riches. (Kevin Vanhoozer, This We Believe, 70)
No plan of God’s can be thwarted; when He acts, no one can reverse it; no one can hold back His hand or bring Him to account for His actions. God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, and works out every event to bring about the accomplishment of His will. Such a bare unqualified statement of the sovereignty of God would terrify us if that were all we knew about God. But God is not only sovereign, He is perfect in love and infinite in wisdom. (Jerry Bridges, Trusting God, 45)
Gospel Connection…
The greatest news for all people is that a Savior died on a cross in their place. And in that message is power for life now, and forever.
(Matthew 10:38; Mark 8:34; Luke 14:27; John 3:16; Rom. 5:8; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 2:20)
Those who are being saved have not yet all the wisdom of heaven, but they have been brought into a newness of life which enables them to weigh spiritual things. As a result they penetrate to the true greatness of the gospel, whereas those who perish are blind to anything but the superficial. (Leon Morris, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: 1 Corinthians, 43)
Spiritual Challenge Questions…
Reflect on these questions in your time with the Lord this week, or discuss with a Christian family member or Life Group.
- What is the message of the cross? What happens to the Bible without it?
- Why would God be pleased to offer salvation through a means the world considers foolish?
- In what other ways does God turn the tables on what the world considers foolish and wise?
- The message of the cross was foolishness and offensive to the first-century Jews and Greeks. In what ways is it foolish or offensive to those around you?
- In what ways may we be tempted to change the message of the gospel so that it does not appear foolish?
Quotes to note…
Men never have acclaimed the gospel as a masterpiece of wisdom. To the natural man it does not make sense. Paul was not unaware of what he was up against as he preached the gospel. (Leon Morris, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: 1 Corinthians, 45)
In God’s wisdom, that is, according to God’s way of revelation, God remains hidden from human scrutiny; by his very nature, God is not an object which the human mind can comprehend. Instead, God discloses his will in a shocking manner: he decided to save people by the foolishness of preaching. (William Baird, 1 and 2 Corinthians, 10)
Verses 18-25 expose this Corinthian love affair with human cleverness for what it is—a stark rejection of God’s way of working in the world. (Bruce N. Fisk, First Corinthians, 9)
Humans think they can reason their way to God, but God says, “No!” All who desire salvation must come to him through the cross! No matter how smart you think you are, God says, you are a fool to do life without Christ and his cross. (Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in 1 Corinthians, 28)
The ancients despised and loathed death by crucifixion. The Roman orator Cicero wrote, “The very word ‘cross’ should be far removed not only from the person of a Roman citizen but from his thoughts, his eyes and his ears” (Pro Rabirio Perduellionis Reo 5.16). The idea that this heinous act could bring humanity to God is unimaginable to the wisdom of this world. Yet, that is exactly what God chose to use. (Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in 1 Corinthians, 25)
Surely Paul could have made the gospel more palatable – and less dangerous – by saying it was about something else. Something cleaner and less ridiculous than the cross. Something more glorious. Less disgusting. He didn’t do that, though. “I decided,” Paul said, “to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). In the face of the worst cultural prejudice imaginable, he fixed the entire gospel squarely and immovably on the fact that Jesus was tacked to a stauros and left to die. If he had been trying to find a surefire way to turn first-century people off from his “good news,” he couldn’t have done better than that! So why did he do it? It’s simple. He did it because he knew that leaving the cross out, or running past it with a glance, or making it peripheral to the gospel, or allowing anything else to displace it at the center of the gospel would make it, finally, no gospel at all. (Greg Gilbert, The Gospel – God’s Self-Substitution for Sinners, 73)
The equation is simple. If God requires perfect righteousness and perfect holiness to survive His perfect judgment, then we are left with a serious problem. Either we rest our hope in our own righteousness, which is altogether inadequate, or we flee to another’s righteousness, an alien righteousness, a righteousness not our own inherently. The only place such righteousness can be found is in Christ – that is the good news of the Gospel. (R.C. Sproul, None Righteous, Tabletalk, April 2004, 7)